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Abstract:

Disclosed is a method for providing access to funds to at least one Small
and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) of a plurality of SMEs. Each SME is
associated with at least one enterprise sector. One or more fund requests
are received for obtaining the funds from a corpus of funds. Each fund
request of the one or more fund requests is associated with an SME of the
plurality of SMEs. The corpus of funds includes investments from a
plurality of investors. The plurality of investors includes public
entities and private entities. Further, the one or more fund requests are
reviewed based on a pre-defined framework. Furthermore, the at least one
SME of SMEs associated with the one or more fund requests is shortlisted
based on the review. An SME of the shortlisted SMEs is provided access to
a fund from the corpus of funds.

Claims:

1. A method for providing access to funds to at least one Small and Medium
sized Enterprise (SME) of a plurality of SMEs, each SME of the plurality
of SMEs associated with at least one enterprise sector, the method
comprising:receiving one or more fund requests for obtaining the funds
from a corpus of funds, each fund request of the one or more fund
requests associated with an SME of the plurality of SMEs, wherein the
corpus of funds comprises investments from a plurality of investors, each
investor of the plurality of investors being at least one of a public
entity and a private entity;reviewing the one or more fund requests based
on a pre-defined framework; andshortlisting the at least one SME of SMEs
associated with the one or more fund requests based on the review of the
one or more fund requests, wherein an SME of the shortlisted at least one
SME is provided access to a fund from the corpus of funds.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating the corpus of funds
by receiving the investments from the plurality of investors prior to
receiving the one or more fund requests.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the private entity comprises at least
one of a bank, a multilateral agency, a venture capitalist, a Private
Equity (PE) fund, an angel investor, a High Networth Individual (HNI), a
fund of funds, a pension fund and an insurance firm.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising disseminating information of
the corpus of funds to the plurality of SMEs for receiving the one or
more fund requests.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information of the corpus of funds
is disseminated through at least one of chartered accountants, enterprise
sector experts, business facilitators, transaction facilitators,
intermediaries and the plurality of investors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined framework comprises
review criteria for reviewing a fund request of the one or more fund
requests.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a review criterion of the review
criteria comprises at least one of a geographical region of an SME
associated with the fund request, an availability of the funds for the
enterprise sector of the SME associated with the fund request, a size of
the SME associated with the fund request and a feasibility of the fund
request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising assisting an SME of the
plurality of SMEs in creation of a fund request.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning an independent
auditor for overseeing allocation of the fund to the SME of the
shortlisted at least one SME.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the SME of the shortlisted at least one
SME is provided the fund on an approval of a fund request associated with
the SME by a governing body, the governing body enabled to manage the
corpus of funds.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001]The present application claims priority under the Paris Convention
and under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Indian Patent Application No.
534/DEL/2009, filed on Mar. 20, 2009, the contents of which are
incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002]The present invention generally relates to funding of enterprises,
and, more particularly, to a method for providing access to funds for
Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003]Enterprises, typically, specialize in one or more enterprise
sectors. Examples of enterprise sectors may include Information
Technology (IT) sector, textile sector, agriculture sector, automotive
sector, and the like. Each enterprise sector typically includes
enterprises of various sizes with regard to headcount, annual turnover,
investments in plant and machinery, and assets. Enterprises with annual
turnover, headcount, investments in plant and machinery, and/or assets
below a threshold value, are referred to as Small and Medium sized
Enterprises (SMEs). The SMEs typically require funds at regular intervals
to meet growth requirements.

[0004]An SME may typically borrow funds to finance the growth
requirements. Such form of fund acquisition is referred to as debt
financing and the SME may approach financial institutions, such as banks,
for acquiring the funds. Alternatively, the SME may opt for equity
financing and may exchange equity (or a share) in the SME for funds. The
SME may typically approach investors, such as venture capitalists and
angel investors, for the funds in exchange of equity in the SME.

[0005]For the SMEs belonging to high-growth sectors, such as IT sector,
acquiring the funds using at least one of debt financing and equity
financing may be less cumbersome than for the SMEs belonging to
low-growth and high-risk sectors, such as agriculture sector and leather
sector. The investors may typically choose to purchase equity from the
SMEs belonging to high-growth sectors rather than from the SMEs belonging
to the low-growth and high-risk sectors. Acquiring the funds, especially
using equity financing, may be cumbersome for the SMEs belonging to the
low-growth and high-risk sectors, which may inhibit development of such
SMEs.

[0006]Further, the SMEs belonging to the low-growth and high-risk sectors
may be located at remote locations and as such may not be aware of
investors, typically residing in financial and business centers, willing
to invest in such SMEs. The investors may need to incur high costs for
locating suitable SMEs for provisioning the funds, thereby adding to
transaction costs. The investors may also be wary of investing in such
SMEs, especially at an early stage of development of the SMEs, as
investing in these SMEs is inherently risky.

[0007]Accordingly, there exists a need for providing access to funds for
SMEs. There also exists a need to provision funds for the SMEs at any
stage of development of the SMEs. Further, there exists a need for
attracting investors to provide funds for SMEs belonging to a variety of
enterprise sectors to ensure adequate percolation of the funds across the
business sectors. Still further, there exists a need to create awareness
among SMEs about investors interested in providing equity financing for
various enterprise sectors. Furthermore, there exists a need to diversify
risk for the investors and reduce costs for the investors for locating
suitable SMEs for provisioning the funds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008]In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the prior art,
the general purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for
providing access to funds for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs),
that is configured to include all advantages of the prior art, and to
overcome the drawbacks inherent therein.

[0009]Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide access
to funds to SMEs from various enterprise sectors.

[0010]Another object of the present invention is to diversify risks
involved in investing in SMEs.

[0011]Yet another object of the present invention is to attract investors
to provide funds for SMEs.

[0012]Still another object of the present invention is to create awareness
among SMEs about equity financing options.

[0013]Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce costs
incurred by investors in locating SMEs.

[0014]Still another object of the present invention is to provide access
to funds for SMEs at various stages of development of the SMEs.

[0015]In an aspect of the present invention, a method is disclosed for
providing access to funds to at least one SME of a plurality of SMEs.
Each SME of the plurality of SMEs is associated with at least one
enterprise sector. One or more fund requests are received for obtaining
the funds from a corpus of funds. Each fund request of the one or more
fund requests is associated with an SME of the plurality of SMEs. The
corpus of funds includes investments from a plurality of investors. Each
investor of the plurality of investors is at least one of a public entity
and a private entity. The one or more fund requests are reviewed based on
a pre-defined framework. The at least one SME of SMEs associated with the
one or more fund requests is shortlisted based on the review of the one
or more fund requests. An SME of the shortlisted at least one SME is
provided access to a fund from the corpus of funds.

[0016]Pooling funds in a corpus permits investors to diversify risks that
are involved in investing in certain SMEs. Further, the method also
includes disseminating information of the corpus of funds to the
plurality of SMEs for receiving the one or more fund requests. The
dissemination of the information creates awareness about equity financing
options among the plurality of SMEs of the corpus of funds, thereby
attracting the plurality of SMEs to submit their fund requests. The
plurality of SMEs submitting their fund requests precludes the need for
the investors to incur substantial costs in identifying suitable SMEs for
providing funds.

[0017]These together with other aspects of the present invention, along
with the various features of novelty that characterize the present
invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed
hereto and form a part of this present invention. For a better
understanding of the present invention, its operating advantages, and the
specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the
accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are
illustrated exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018]The advantages and features of the present invention will become
better understood with reference to the following detailed description
and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein
like elements are identified with like symbols, and in which:

[0019]FIG. 1 is a flow diagram representing a method for providing access
to funds to at least one Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) of a
plurality of SMEs, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0020]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram representing a method for providing access
to funds to at least one SME of the plurality of SMEs, in accordance with
another embodiment of the present invention; and

[0021]FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram depicting interaction among a
plurality of stakeholders and a plurality of SMEs, in accordance with an
exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0022]Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the
description of several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023]For a thorough understanding of the present invention, reference is
to be made to the following detailed description, including the appended
claims, in connection with the above-described drawings. Although the
present invention is described in connection with exemplary embodiments,
the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms
set forth herein. It is understood that various omissions and
substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstances may
suggest or render expedient, but these are intended to cover the
application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope
of the claims of the present invention. Also, it is to be understood that
the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of
description and should not be regarded as limiting.

[0024]The terms "a" and "an" herein do not denote a limitation of
quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the
referenced items.

[0025]The present invention discloses a method for providing access to
funds to at least one Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) of a
plurality of SMEs. Each SME of the plurality of SMEs is associated with
at least one enterprise sector. One or more fund requests are received
for obtaining the funds from a corpus of funds. Each fund request of the
one or more fund requests is associated with an SME of the plurality of
SMEs. The corpus of funds includes investments from a plurality of
investors. Each investor of the plurality of investors is at least one of
a public entity and a private entity. The one or more fund requests are
reviewed based on a pre-defined framework. The at least one SME of SMEs
associated with the one or more fund requests is shortlisted based on the
review of the one or more fund requests. An SME of the shortlisted at
least one SME is provided access to a fund from the corpus of funds.

[0026]FIG. 1 is a flow diagram representing a method 100 for providing
access to funds to at least one SME of a plurality of SMEs, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. The method 100 begins at
102. At 104, one or more fund requests for obtaining funds from a corpus
of funds are received. Each fund request of the one or more fund requests
is associated with an SME of the plurality of SMEs. The corpus of funds
includes investments from a plurality of investors. Each investor of the
plurality of investors is at least one of a public entity and a private
entity. More specifically, the each investor may be a public entity, a
private entity, or an entity formed by a combination of public ownership
and private ownership.

[0027]At 106, the one or more fund requests are reviewed based on a
pre-defined framework. At 108, the at least one SME of SMEs associated
with the one or more fund requests is shortlisted based on the review of
the one or more fund requests. An SME of the shortlisted at least one SME
is provided access to a fund from the corpus of funds. The access to the
fund represents equity financing that is provided to the SME for
assisting in growth of the SME. At 110, the method 100 ends.

[0028]For the purpose of description of the present invention, an SME may
be defined based on a geographical region and the enterprise sector of
the SME. For example, in Indian context, a service sector enterprise with
annual turnover between Indian Rupees (INR) 10 lakh and INR five crore
may be categorized as a micro, small or medium sized enterprise. In
another example, a manufacturing sector enterprise with the annual
turnover between INR 25 lakh and INR 10 crore may be categorized as a
micro, small or medium sized enterprise. Alternatively, in another
geographical region, such as the United States of America (USA), an SME
may be defined based on a North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) code of the enterprise sector of the SME.

[0029]For example, the NAICS code 112340 for a poultry hatchery enterprise
sector may define an SME as an enterprise with annual revenues of up to
USD 0.75 million. In another example, the NAICS code 316211 for a rubber
and plastics footwear enterprise sector may define an SME as an
enterprise with number of employees up to 1000. It will be evident to a
person skilled in the art that definitions of SMEs may vary from one
geographical region to another. More specifically, an enterprise may be
defined as an SME in various ways, based on the geographical region, such
as a state, a country and a continent, where the enterprise is located.
It will be evident to a person skilled in the art that examples provided
above are included for exemplary purposes only and any such values may be
defined for classifying an enterprise as an SME.

[0030]It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the funds as
described herein may be a supply of capital to be provided to the at
least one SME of the plurality of SMEs. The corpus of funds may be
created for a particular region to provide equity finance for the
plurality of SMEs operating in the region. Examples of the region may
include a district, a state, a country, and the like. Creation of the
corpus of funds may be initiated by a stakeholder of a plurality of
stakeholders. A stakeholder of the plurality of stakeholders may hold a
stake in the corpus of funds.

[0031]An SME of the plurality of SMEs may provide a fund request to
receive a fund from the corpus of funds. An advisor may be enabled to
receive the fund request from the SME. Examples of the advisor include
entities, such as financial advisors, business consultants, management
consultants, advisory arms of banks, investment banks, and the like. In
an embodiment, the SME may provide the fund request to a cluster
consultant. The cluster consultant may receive fund requests from SMEs of
the plurality of SMEs. The cluster consultant may perform an approval and
rejection of the fund requests based on the review criteria. Thereafter,
the cluster consultant may provide approved fund requests of the received
fund requests to the advisor. Examples of the cluster consultant include
Chartered Accountants (CAs), industry experts, on-the-ground consultants,
business facilitators, transaction facilitators, industry cluster
associations, intermediaries, and the like. It will be apparent to a
person skilled in the art that a plurality of cluster consultants may
exist for receiving the fund requests from the SMEs of the plurality of
SMEs.

[0032]The advisor may review the fund request provided by the SME, based
on the predefined framework. In an embodiment of the present invention,
the predefined framework may include review criteria for reviewing the
fund request received from the SME. A review criterion of the review
criteria may include at least one of a geographical region of the SME, an
availability of the funds for the enterprise sector of the SME, a size of
the SME and a feasibility of the fund request. More specifically, a
review criterion for the fund request provided by the SME may be the
geographical region of the SME. Examples of the geographical region may
include a country, a state, a district, a village, and the like. Further,
the fund request may be reviewed based on the enterprise sector of the
SME. An enterprise sector may be allocated a portion of the corpus of
funds based on requirement of the enterprise sector. For example, a sum
of USD 200 million of the corpus of funds may be reserved for
agricultural sector. An SME `A` from the agriculture sector may be
allotted a fund of a particular amount from the corpus of funds if the
required amount is available in the sum reserved for the agricultural
sector.

[0033]Furthermore, the fund request by the SME may be reviewed based on
the size of the SME. Still further, the fund request by the SME may be
reviewed based on the feasibility of the fund request. For example, an
SME `B` may provide a fund request of USD 500,000. The feasibility of the
fund request may be determined based on analysis of the fund request and
a business plan associated with the fund request.

[0034]In an embodiment of the present invention, the fund request may be
received by the cluster consultant. The cluster consultant may review the
fund request based on the review criteria as explained above. The cluster
consultant may approve an SME based on the review of the fund request
received from the SME. The fund request of the approved SME may be
provided to the advisor for the review. As explained, the advisor may
receive the one or more fund requests directly from SMEs or via the
cluster consultants. The advisor may review the one or more fund requests
received from SMEs of the plurality of SMEs.

[0035]The advisor may shortlist the at least one SME of the SMEs
associated with the one or more fund requests, based on the review of the
one or more fund requests. Thereafter, fund requests of the shortlisted
at least one SME may be provided to a governing body that is enabled to
manage the corpus of funds. Further, the governing body may review the
fund requests of the shortlisted SMEs. The governing body may approve the
fund request of at least one SME of the shortlisted SMEs. SMEs associated
with approved fund requests may be provided funds from the corpus of
funds by the governing body.

[0036]In an embodiment of the present invention, the governing body may
utilize a part of the corpus of funds for operating the corpus of funds.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the advisor may receive
remuneration when a fund request of an SME sent by the advisor is
approved by the governing body. For example, the advisor may receive a
remuneration of USD 1000 when a fund request of an SME `C` is approved by
the governing body. A more detailed method for providing access to funds
to the plurality of SMEs is explained in conjunction with FIG. 2.

[0037]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram representing a method 200 for providing
access to the funds to the at least one SME, in accordance with another
embodiment of the present invention. The method 200 begins at 202. At
204, the corpus of funds is created by receiving investments from the
plurality of investors. The creation of the corpus of funds may be
initiated by an advisor. The advisor may approach private entities, such
as venture capitalists, angel investors, Private Equity (PE) funds and
High Networth Individuals (HNI's), and public entities, such as Ministry
of Company Affairs, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
and Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the Indian
context; and Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Small and
Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), Economic Development Loan
Fund (EDLF), and the like, in the US context, to facilitate the creation
of the corpus of funds.

[0038]At 206, information of the corpus of funds may be disseminated to
the plurality of SMEs for receiving the one or more fund requests. The
information of the corpus of funds may be disseminated through the
advisor. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that
disseminating the information of the corpus of funds represents creating
awareness of the corpus of funds among the plurality of SMEs. In an
embodiment of the present invention, the information may be disseminated
online, through a website that may be maintained by a stakeholder of the
plurality of stakeholders, such as Ministry of Company Affairs, Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Ministry of Micro Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME), and the like. Further, the information of the
corpus of funds may be disseminated through print media and electronic
media. Still further, the information of the corpus of funds may be
disseminated by engaging programs or organizations, such as Project
Vikas, SME programs run by the United Nations, and the like. Furthermore,
the information of the corpus of funds may be disseminated through
industry champions, national level associations, and other similar
networked organizations.

[0039]At 208, the one or more fund requests are received for obtaining
funds from the corpus of funds. Each fund request of the one or more fund
requests is associated with an SME of the plurality of SMEs. As explained
previously, the corpus of funds includes investments from the plurality
of investors. Further, each investor of the plurality of investors may be
at least one of a public entity and a private entity. As explained
previously, the each investor may either be a public entity, a private
entity or an entity formed by a combination of public ownership and
private ownership. The one or more fund requests for obtaining funds from
the corpus of funds may be received by an advisor. The advisor may
receive the one or more fund requests from a cluster consultant and/or
directly from SMEs of the plurality of SMEs. The cluster consultant may
receive fund requests of the one or more fund requests from SMEs of the
plurality of SMEs. The cluster consultant may review the fund requests
based on the review criteria. Further, the cluster consultant may send an
approved list of SMEs to the advisor for review.

[0040]At 210, the one or more fund requests are reviewed by the advisor
based on the pre-defined framework, as explained in conjunction with the
method 100 of FIG. 1. The one or more fund requests may be reviewed by
the advisor based on the review criteria for reviewing the one or more
fund requests. At 212, the advisor may shortlist at least one SME of SMEs
associated with the one or more fund requests based on the review of the
one or more fund requests. An SME of the shortlisted SMEs is provided
access to a fund from the corpus of funds. The SME may be provided the
fund on an approval of a fund request associated with the SME by a
governing body that is enabled to distribute funds from the corpus of
funds.

[0041]At 214, an independent auditor may be assigned for overseeing
allocation of the fund to the SME of the shortlisted SMEs. More
specifically, the auditor may be a public entity or a private entity that
may be enabled to examine accounting records, and verify balance sheets
and income items of the corpus of funds. Further, the auditor may be
assigned for auditing financials of the corpus of funds (including
verifying incoming and outgoing cash flows) and periodically reporting
financial movements and status of the corpus of funds to the plurality of
investors.

[0042]In an embodiment of the present invention, a portion of the fund
provided for the SME is reserved for the advisor that shortlisted the
SME. The advisor is provisioned the portion of the fund for advisory
services, such as reviewing the fund request of the SME. At 216, the
method 200 ends.

[0043]It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the method
100 and the method 200 may be performed by the advisor.

[0044]FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram 300 depicting an interaction
among a plurality of stakeholders and a plurality of SMEs, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram 300
depicts a corpus of funds 302, a plurality of investors, such as a public
entity 304a, a private entity 304b, a public entity 304c and a private
entity 304d, a government 306, a governing body 308, a plurality of
advisors, such as an advisor 310, a plurality of cluster consultants,
such as a cluster consultant 312, and a plurality of Small and Medium
Sized Enterprises (SMEs), such as an SME 314a, an SME 314b and an SME
314c. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the block
diagram 300 is depicted for exemplary purposes and that any such
arrangement may be envisioned for providing funds to SMEs of the
plurality of SMEs.

[0045]The corpus of funds 302 includes investments from the plurality of
investors. An investor of the plurality of investors may be at least one
of a public entity, such as the public entity 304a and 304c, and a
private entity, such as the private entity 304b and 304d. The plurality
of investors will hereinafter collectively be referred to as `plurality
of investors 304a-d`. Examples of the plurality of investors 304a-d
include, but are not limited to, government agencies, public sector
banks, private banks, investment banks, Private Equity (PE) funds,
multilateral agencies, insurance firms, venture capitalists, fund of
funds and pension funds.

[0046]The government 306 may also invest in the corpus of funds 302. More
specifically, the government 306 may invest directly or indirectly in the
corpus of funds 302. The government 306 may provide a direct investment
to the corpus of funds 302. For example, the government 306 may invest
USD 400 million in the corpus of funds. In case of the direct investment,
the government 306 may receive direct returns on the direct investment
being a direct equity investor in the SMEs that are provided the equity
financing by the corpus of funds 302. Accordingly, the government 306 may
receive the direct returns on the direct investment as is received by
other investors of the plurality of investors 304a-d. Alternatively, the
government 306 may provide tax and regulatory benefits to the plurality
of investors 304a-d investing in the corpus of funds 302, thereby
investing indirectly in the corpus of funds 302. In case of indirect
investment, the government 306 may receive a one time joining fee and/or
a yearly membership fee from the plurality of investors 304a-d, thus
receiving indirect returns from the indirect investment in the corpus of
funds 302. By way of the direct investment and/or the indirect investment
and consequently receiving the direct returns and/or the indirect
returns, the government 306 shares the risks and returns involved in
investing in the corpus of funds 302 with the plurality of investors
304a-d. These direct and/or indirect investments in the corpus of funds
302, and consequent sharing of the risks and the returns by the plurality
of investors 304a-d and the government 306, form a public private
partnership between the plurality of investors 304a-d and the government
306. The corpus of funds 302 may be managed jointly by the plurality of
investors 304a-d and the government 306.

[0047]More specifically, the corpus of funds 302 may be associated with a
plurality of stakeholders. Each of the plurality of stakeholders may hold
a stake in the corpus of funds 302. Examples of a stakeholder of the
plurality of stakeholders include the plurality of investors 304a-d, the
government 306, the plurality of advisors and the plurality of cluster
consultants. The corpus of funds 302 may be managed by the plurality of
stakeholders. More specifically, at least one stakeholder of the
plurality of stakeholders may represent the governing body 308 for
managing the corpus of funds 302. The governing body 308 may be elected
or nominated by the plurality of stakeholders. The governing body 308 may
approve funds to be provided to SMEs of the plurality of SMEs. The
governing body 308 may receive fund requests of shortlisted SMEs of the
plurality of SMEs from the advisor. The governing body 308 may approve or
reject the fund requests of the shortlisted SMEs. SMEs associated with
the approved fund requests may be provided the funds from the corpus of
funds 302. Further, the governing body 308 may require certain fund
requests to be amended. These fund requests and associated SMEs may be
redirected to an advisor, such as the advisor 310, for assisting the SMEs
in amending the fund requests.

[0048]Further, the plurality of advisors and the plurality of cluster
consultants may receive the fund requests from the plurality of SMEs. The
plurality of advisors and the plurality of cluster consultants may
shortlist SMEs of the plurality of SMEs based on review of the fund
requests. Further, the fund requests approved by the cluster consultant
312 may be redirected to the advisor 310 for an approval. Thereafter,
fund requests approved by the advisor 310 may be redirected to the
governing body 308 for approval or rejection.

[0049]As explained previously, the corpus of funds 302 is associated with
the plurality of stakeholders. Each of the plurality of stakeholders may
hold a stake in the corpus of funds 302. In an embodiment of the present
invention, each stakeholder of the plurality of stakeholders may be
associated with a role. More specifically, each of the plurality of
investors 304a-d, the advisor 310, the plurality of cluster consultants,
such as the cluster consultant 312 and the government 306 may be
associated with a role. An investor, such as the public entity 304a, of
the plurality of investors 304a-d may be associated with an investor
role. By definition, an investor is a public entity or a private entity
who has invested in the corpus of funds 302. The investor role involves
acquiring an equity stake in the SMEs that have been provided funds by
the governing body 308.

[0050]Further, the investor role may enable the plurality of investors,
such as the public entity 304a or the private entity 304b, to receive tax
and regulatory benefits from the government 306. Furthermore, the
investor role requires the plurality of investors 304a-d to operate as a
consortium. Still further, the investor role may include utilizing
marketing networks to perform marketing activities, such as road shows,
to generate awareness of the corpus of funds among the plurality of SMEs.

[0051]Similarly, the government 306 may be associated with a government
role. The government role may involve facilitating creation of the corpus
of funds 302. For the same purpose, the government 306 may create a
program for assisting the plurality of SMEs in receiving equity
financing. The program may attract the plurality of investors 304a-d to
invest in the corpus of funds 302. Further, the government 306 may be
enabled to provide the tax and regulatory benefits to the plurality of
investors 304a-d. As mentioned earlier, in an embodiment of the present
invention, the government 306 may be enabled to receive a one-time
joining fee and/or a subsequent yearly membership fee from each investor
of the plurality of investors. Further, the government role may involve
marketing and creating awareness of the corpus of funds 302 among the
plurality of SMEs. For this purpose, the government 306 may engage
government resources, such as local institutions and officials to
initiate awareness generation programs.

[0052]Still further, the government role may enable the government 306 to
operate as a regulator for the corpus of funds 302, thereby safeguarding
interests of the plurality of investors 304a-d and the SMEs that are
provided the funds. Further, the government role may enable the
government 306 to create an investment mandate for regulating utilization
of the corpus of funds 302. The investment mandate may include
regulations to ensure that access to funds from the corpus of funds 302
is facilitated for micro SMEs with low turnovers, for SMEs that are at
various stages of development and for SMEs from specific sectors.

[0053]Similarly, the advisor 310 of the plurality of advisors may be
associated with an advisor role. The advisor role may involve reviewing
the one or more fund requests received from SMEs of the plurality of SMEs
based on the review criteria. Further, the advisor role may involve
overseeing utilization of the funds provided to the SMEs, based on
covenants laid down for utilization of the corpus of funds 302.
Furthermore, the advisor role may involve advising and mentoring an SME,
such as the SME 314c, associated with a fund request. The advisor 310 may
advise and mentor the SME 314c when the governing body 308 indicates
amendments to the fund request provided by the SME 314c. The advisor 310
may be enabled by the advisor role to assist the SME 314c in amending the
fund request for improving probability of being provided the fund by the
governing body 308. In an embodiment of the present invention, the
advisor may be enabled by the advisor role to assist an SME in creation
of a fund request, thereby increasing probability of the fund request to
be approved by the governing body 308. In another embodiment of the
present invention, the advisor 310 may be enabled by the advisor role to
facilitate creation of the corpus of funds 302.

[0054]Further, the advisor role may involve conducting capacity building
programs, awareness generation seminars and programs for the plurality of
stakeholders. The capacity building programs refer to training programs
that may be directed to familiarize a stakeholder, such as a government
official, an advisor, a cluster consultant, an investor, and the like,
with functioning of the corpus of funds 302. Furthermore, the capacity
building programs may facilitate the stakeholder to understand roles of
other stakeholders. Still further, the advisor role may involve
publishing of white papers to generate awareness among the plurality of
stakeholders and the plurality of SMEs.

[0055]Accordingly, the cluster consultant 312 of the plurality of cluster
consultants may be associated with a consultant role. The consultant role
may involve operating as an interface between the corpus of funds 302 and
the plurality of SMEs to enable SMEs from various geographical regions to
provide fund requests for receiving equity finance. The cluster
consultant 312 may be enabled to receive fund requests from one or more
SMEs of the plurality of SMEs. The consultant role may enable the cluster
consultant 312 to approve or reject the fund requests. Thereafter, the
consultant role may enable the cluster consultant 312 to refer approved
fund requests to the advisor 310. In an embodiment of the present
invention, the cluster consultant may be provided incentives for
submitting approved fund requests of SMEs to the advisor. In an
embodiment of the present invention, the information of the corpus of
funds 302 may be disseminated through at least one of the plurality of
cluster consultants, such as the cluster consultant 312 and the plurality
of investors 304a-d. Examples of the cluster consultant 312 include, but
are not limited to, CAs, enterprise sector experts, business
facilitators, industry cluster associations and intermediaries. It will
be apparent to a person skilled in the art that roles associated with the
plurality of stakeholders may be interchanged.

[0056]Providing access to funds to at least one Small and Medium sized
Enterprise (SME) of a plurality of SMEs as implemented by methods, such
as the method 100 and the method 200, of the present invention, is
advantageous for development and growth of the at least one SME. The
funds are provided from a corpus of funds managed by a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) between a government and a plurality of investors. The
existence of a PPP attracts investors to invest in the corpus of funds.
The method involves participation by a plurality of investors in the
corpus of funds, thereby enabling diversification of risk for the
plurality of investors. Further, the method provisions tax and regulatory
benefits for the plurality of investors, thereby attracting potential
investors to invest in the corpus of funds. Furthermore, the method
facilitates creation of awareness among the plurality of SMEs about
investors providing equity financing, thereby attracting the plurality of
SMEs to submit their fund requests. Moreover, government involvement as a
facilitator ensures that SMEs of various sizes, turnovers and sectors are
provided access to the funds of the corpus of funds. Further the
government involvement as the facilitator also ensures access to funds
for SMEs at various stages of development. Still further, transaction
costs incurred by investors in locating suitable SMEs are reduced due to
information dissemination of the corpus of funds by a plurality of
stakeholders and/or by cluster consultants.

[0057]The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present
invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and
description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the
present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many
modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the
principles of the present invention and its practical application, to
thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the present
invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are
suited to the particular use contemplated. It is understood that various
omissions and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as
circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but such are intended to
cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit
or scope of the claims of the present invention.